Life After Life (March 20, 2017)

Life After Life was filmed over 8 years and is told through the lens of three men and their families as they share their path to prison and their challenging journey home. As their stories unfold over weeks, months and years, the precarious nature of freedom after incarceration in America is revealed. Thank you to our panel speakers (Keith Wattley, Katherine Katcher, Endria Richardson, Harrison Seuga, Dr. Patricia Hilden, and Tamara Perkins) and our co-hosts (UC Berkeley Human Rights Center, Human Rights of the Incarcerated, and Underground Scholars Initiative)!

13th Documentary (Feb 23, 2017)

We co-hosted a screening of the documentary 13th, a powerful film which analyzes the criminalization of African Americans and the U.S. prison boom. After the film, we had a discussion on the film's topics with a panel of UC-Berkeley professors.

Healing Space (Oct 12, 2016)

In this healing circle for survivors of sexual assault and allies, 8 students shared their stories, their impacts, and their strategies for making it through the day (synthesized in the following list):

Recognizing that you have experienced a traumatic event

Believing in and not blaming yourself

Giving yourself time to understand and process

Not feeling shame or embarrassment

Recognizing harm and confusion

Getting help when you need it

Having your counselors write a letter to faculty members

Using the "Path to Care" (510-643-2005) to write to instructors

Contacting the Disabled Student Program for PTSD, depression, and time off

Crying and hydrating

Using Play-Doh

Writing a letter without sending it

Talking about it

This circle of care was made possible with the help of Anvi and the Coalition against Sexual Violence. Thank you to all who participated.

Restorative Re-Entry (Sept 12, 2016)

RJ practitioners Malachi Scott and Rahkii Holman presented their vision for re-entry programs that include such basics as programs for housing, employment, education, and substance abuse and include restorative processes that start before people leave prison.

After the panel, Malachi and Rahkii held space for folks involved in activism and ally-ship around racial justice, criminal justice, policing, Black Lives Matter, critical resistance, prison abolition, re-entry and the “prison to school pipeline” to talk about trauma, harm and needs.

Multicultural Education Program and RJ (February 2016)

In spring semester, the Graduate Student Working Group partnered with Multi-Educational programs to present a 3-day training in diversity, inclusion and community building. About 20 graduate students from 15 different majors convened for the training, which took place over 3 Saturdays in February-March. In the mornings, from 9-12, students completed MEP’s 3-part workshop in Diversity and Inclusion. From 1-4, they were introduced to circle practice for community building, talking and harm circles and solidarity circles for action planning. These afternoon circles were facilitated for the most part by the undergraduate student leaders. The undergraduate students were intimated by the set up, but in the end, as D’mani, one of our student leaders noted, “It amazed me how people are so welcoming, especially as my position as a student practitioner…valuing what you have to say even if you’re not at the same level of education as they are…”

The training provided graduate students with various kinds of tools for engaging in difficult conversations in ways that feel productive and interesting:

“I definitely came away with some new tools of reflection and community building and I really enjoyed the activities we did around active listening and self-reflection, having a better sense of how your background affects your sense of the world and how others are seeing the world… coalition building and community building around issues that are hugely important on this campus and beyond…”

“Great tools that we can take back to our individual schools and thinking about how we can work together in the future.”
“I try to build community in the classroom… while I try to foster that, I think it will work much better with the community building exercises we learned in the restorative justice workshops…”

The Restorative Justice Center held our second annual conference at the Multicultural Community Center. With campus and criminal justice policies under fire for ignoring the needs of survivors of gender-based violence, people are looking for alternatives. This conference brings together academics and activists to explore the possibilities and limitations of Restorative / Transformative Justice in response to sexual violence and misconduct on campus and in communities that experience structural oppression.

Bringing together high school students, UC Berkeley undergraduates, and community organizations to challenge the School to Prison Pipeline by promoting the use of restorative justice, an effective resource that addresses topics such as conflict resolution, peace making, and community building. The conference also explored the role of community organizing and George

Considering Restorative Justice was a gathering of Restorative Justice innovators, activists and artists from the Bay Area to consider campus-community partnerships to support and promote RJ principles and practices at UC Berkeley and in local communities.

Interested in RJ Processes?

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Support the RJ Center’s Restorative Justice Students Leaders program. We train students in the philosophies and skills of Restorative justice and Restorative practices to build and strengthen community, and address campus climate harms and conflicts. Click here for more information.